Fire on the Mountain, the Sixth Commandment - Murder Not!
The Lord and Giver of Life
At the end of World War II, the world recoiled in horror as the full extent of Nazi evil came to light. The genocide of the Jewish people rightly stands as one of the most horrifying crimes in human history.
But historians remind us that the Nazi killing machine did not begin with the Jews.
It began with the disabled.
Years before the death camps of the Holocaust were built, the Nazi regime launched a program to eliminate those they labeled “life unworthy of life.” Children born with disabilities, adults with mental illness, and those living with severe physical conditions were quietly removed from hospitals and institutions and killed.
Doctors reviewed medical records and marked patients for death. Infants born with disabilities were reported to authorities. Many victims were transported to specialized killing centers where they died in gas chambers disguised as showers, by lethal injections, or by deliberate starvation.
Among those targeted were people with:
Intellectual disabilities
Down syndrome
Cerebral palsy
Severe developmental disabilities
Epilepsy
Blindness or deafness
Paralysis or severe deformities
Those diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression, or dementia were also marked as expendable.
Thousands of children were killed simply because they were considered defective.
Other groups were also targeted: Romani people, Slavic populations, Polish intellectuals, homosexual men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and individuals labeled “asocial.”
Historians widely recognize this program—known as Aktion T4—as a precursor to the Holocaust. Techniques developed there were later used in extermination camps: gas chambers, crematoria, bureaucratic selection processes, and medicalized killing.
By the time the mass extermination of Jews began, the regime had already normalized the idea that some lives were expendable. The twentieth century showed the world where that road leads.
But the temptation behind that logic did not begin with the Nazis. It is far older. Jesus says of the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning.” From the opening pages of Scripture, the enemy of God seeks to destroy the lives of those who bear God’s image.
Yet the Bible tells a different story about the world. It tells us that the God who made heaven and earth is not a destroyer of life. He is the Lord and Giver of Life.
Why Human Life Is Sacred
Christians confess in the Nicene Creed that the Holy Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life.” That phrase captures a truth that runs through the entire story of Scripture.
From the very beginning, God is revealed as the source of life. In Genesis, God speaks the world into existence. Light appears. Seas gather. Plants grow. Animals fill the sky, land, and water. Creation is alive because God gives life.
But then something remarkable happens.
God says:
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
Human beings are not merely another part of creation. We are image-bearers of God.
Psalm 8 says humanity is crowned “with glory and honor.” Psalm 139 says God forms each person in the womb and knows them before anyone else does. Human life possesses inherent dignity because it reflects the Creator. And because life is sacred, God protects it. That is why the sixth commandment is so short and direct:
“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
In Hebrew, it is only two words. Yet those two words stand guard over something precious: the life of those made in God’s image. Death, after all, is not what we were created for. Scripture describes death in three forms:
Spiritual death — separation from God
Physical death — the decay of the body
Eternal death — final judgment apart from God
Human beings were not designed for death. Death entered the world through sin, and the sixth commandment reminds us that life—especially human life—is not ours to discard. To understand the depth of this commandment, please consider three movements Scripture leads us through.
Movement One: Image-Bearers and the Enemy of Life
The Bible teaches two truths side by side. First, human beings bear the image of God. Second, there is an enemy who hates that image. Jesus describes the devil this way:
“He was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44)
The pattern appears early in Scripture.
Adam and Eve rebel against God and bring death into the world. Their first son, Cain, murders his brother Abel. Violence spreads until Genesis says the earth was “filled with violence.”
The flood comes as judgment against that corruption. Afterward, God reaffirms the sacredness of human life:
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6)
Violence against people is violence against the image of God. Yet the Bible also makes an important distinction. The sixth commandment does not forbid every act of killing in every circumstance.
In Romans 13, the apostle Paul explains that civil government is “God’s servant” and “does not bear the sword in vain.” Governments are given authority to restrain evil and uphold justice.
So Scripture distinguishes between justice and murder. Murder is the unlawful taking of innocent life.
The Westminster Larger Catechism explains this clearly. Question 136 teaches that the sixth commandment forbids:
Taking the life of ourselves or others unjustly
Sinful anger and hatred
Revenge
Anything that tends toward the destruction of life
But Scripture also tells us something deeper. Violence does not begin with the hands: it begins with the heart.
Movement Two: The Heart of the Matter
In Jesus' time, many religious leaders believed impurity came mainly from external sources.
Certain foods. Certain rituals. Certain outside influences.
Jesus challenged that assumption.
In Matthew 15, He says:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart… come evil thoughts… murder…”
Sin does not begin outside us. It arises within us. That is why Jesus deepens the meaning of the sixth commandment in the Sermon on the Mount.
He says:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder.’ … But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” (Matthew 5:21–22)
According to Jesus, the roots of murder include anger, contempt, and hatred.
John echoes this in his letter:
“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” (1 John 3:15)
The commandment reaches deeper than our actions. It exposes our hearts. And when sinful attitudes take root, they eventually bear fruit. Sometimes that fruit is obvious violence, but sometimes it appears in quieter ways.
Societies begin to adopt subtle ideas about whose lives matter most. We hear arguments that:
Unborn children are disposable
The severely disabled are burdens
The elderly might be better off dead
People suffering deeply should end their lives
The poor are expendable
The foreigner or immigrant is less worthy of compassion
Often, these ideas appear in sophisticated moral arguments. Some modern ethicists claim human value depends on qualities like intelligence, independence, or self-awareness. According to this view, a person’s worth rises or falls depending on their abilities.
But Scripture rejects that entire framework. Human dignity does not come from ability. It comes from bearing God’s image.
This truth has profound implications.
It means the unborn child has dignity. It means the disabled have dignity. It means the elderly have dignity.
It means the poor, the weak, and the forgotten have dignity. It means the immigrant and sojourner, the stranger, have dignity.
Every human life reflects something of the Creator. That is why the church must speak clearly about the sanctity of life. But we must also speak with compassion. Behind these issues are real people.
When we talk about abortion, we are talking about some women who may have felt frightened, pressured, or alone. We will always affirm that a child in the womb is the blessing of the Lord.
When we discuss euthanasia, we are speaking about people who are suffering deeply and long for death, but we will always affirm that our days are determined by the Almighty, and we will not take his place as the one holding the keys of death.
When we address suicide, we are talking about people whose pain has become overwhelming, but we will always cry out with Paul to the Philippian jailer, “Do yourself no harm! We are all here.”
When we discuss the immigrant, the sojourner, and the stranger, we must remember Jesus’ words, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35-40). The way we treat the weak, the vulnerable, and the impoverished is how we treat Jesus.
The church must never approach these realities with coldness or condemnation. We speak the truth, but we speak it with the hope of redemption, because the gospel addresses not only actions but also hearts.
Movement Three: Choosing Life
Near the end of his life, Moses gathered Israel and spoke words that still echo today.
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
That is the positive call behind the sixth commandment.
Choose life.
The Westminster Larger Catechism highlights this positive dimension.
Question 135 explains that the commandment requires us to preserve life through:
Patience
Gentleness
Mercy
Compassion
Protection of the vulnerable
The sixth commandment is not merely about avoiding violence. It calls God’s people to protect and cultivate life. A murderous philosophy motivated the Nazi regime, but it has its contemporary co-belligerent in the work of Princeton ethicist Peter Singer. His radically anti-Christian view that belittles the idea of humans as God’s image bearers, a view he refers to as “speciesism”, leads him to conclude that the newly born infant is not fully human - only potentially so, that a human infant is no different than a pig and must prove to the parents that he’s worthy of continued life if he proves to be an agent of their happiness. This massive deception is creeping into mainstream thinking and affects the Church as well. Against it, we affirm a Biblical anthropology and choose life.
That means:
Choosing patience instead of anger.
Choosing gentleness instead of cruelty.
Choosing care instead of neglect.
It means defending the dignity of the unborn.
It means honoring the elderly rather than discarding them.
It means caring for those who are sick, disabled, or suffering.I
t means walking beside those who are overwhelmed by despair instead of leaving them alone in darkness.
In other words, the commandment calls us to become people who protect life. People who encourage life. People who cherish life because it reflects the God who gives it.
The Commandment That Exposes Us
If we are honest, however, the sixth commandment also exposes something uncomfortable about ourselves.
None of us has kept it perfectly.
We may never have taken a life, but we have harbored anger. We have dismissed people as less valuable. We have treated others with contempt. We live in a world broken by violence, hatred, and death, and in some measure, we have participated in that brokenness.
Which leads us to the final movement of the story.
The Murder of the Prince of Life
The greatest violation of the sixth commandment in history took place outside Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, was arrested, condemned, and crucified.
In Acts 3, the apostle Peter confronts the crowd with these words:
“You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”
The Prince of Life was murdered.
Yet the cross reveals the deepest mystery of the gospel.
God used the worst act of human violence to bring about the greatest act of redemption.
Jesus entered death so that death itself could be defeated.
And nowhere is God’s mercy more visible than in the moments of crucifixion.
Next to Jesus hangs a criminal.
A man condemned for his crimes.
Perhaps even for murder.
In his final moments, he turns to Jesus and says:
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
And Jesus replies:
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
The Prince of Life gives life even to a dying criminal.
That means there is hope for all of us.
Hope for those who have sinned.
Hope for those who have been sinned against.
Hope for hearts that have been corrupted from within.
Because the One who was murdered did not remain in the grave.
He rose again.
Through His resurrection, Christ conquers both physical death and spiritual death.
He forgives guilt.
He cleanses the heart.
He restores life.
The Commandment That Leads to Life
The Law can never give life, but it can certainly point to the Lord of Life. The sixth commandment begins with a prohibition: “You shall not murder”, and in doing so, it ultimately leads us to a person, the Lord and Giver of Life.
He created life. He protects life. And through Jesus Christ, He redeems life.
So the call of Scripture still echoes today:
“I have set before you life and death… therefore choose life.”
And the One who calls us to choose life is the One who freely gives it. That is the hope at the heart of the sixth commandment. Not merely that we avoid death or prevent murder, but that we learn to cherish, defend, and nurture the gift of life given by God and inherit eternal life.
Every human life reflects the glory of the Creator.
And the God who gives life has made a way for the final defeat of death itself in the life of Jesus Christ.
“Death, Thou shalt die!”